![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/0_The-first-British-flying-taxi-has-taken-to-the-skies-over-the-Cotswolds.jpg\")
The air taxis will be able to take passengers from southwest London to Heathrow in just eight minutes, compared to 52 minutes by road.(Image: verticalaerospace\/ Instagram)<\/p>\nThe electric aircraft, capable of carrying four passengers plus the pilot, took off and landed vertically before making a conventional wing-borne flight<\/p>\n
16:09, 29 May 2025Updated 16:43, 29 May 2025<\/p>\n
The air taxis will be able to take passengers from southwest London to Heathrow in just eight minutes, compared to 52 minutes by road.(Image: verticalaerospace\/ Instagram)<\/p>\n
The UK’s pioneering flying taxi has edged closer to reality with its first significant real-world flight.<\/p>\n
The electric-powered craft, designed to ferry four passengers alongside a pilot, hit an exhilarating 150mph during its inaugural cross-country flight \u2013 a European first for such a journey in open airspace.<\/p>\n
Bristol-based innovators, Vertical Aerospace, are behind the creation of the VX4 electric aircraft, which was expertly piloted by Simon Davies.<\/p>\n
Functioning like a helicopter, this flying taxi can perform vertical take-offs and landings, boasting the ability to cover up to 100 miles at a top speed of 150mph.<\/p>\n
While earlier trials were under strict supervision, the recent flight over the Cotswolds on Tuesday (May 27) represented the debut of the prototype engaging in a traditional “wing-borne” flight in unrestricted skies, reports the Express<\/a>.<\/p>\n Sign up to receive daily news updates and breaking news alerts straight to your inbox for free here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/strong><\/p>\n “Our performance predictions were absolutely spot on, and the aircraft took off as a natural extension of all the ground tests and preparation we’ve done,” declared Mr Davies, labelling the experience as a clear career milestone.<\/p>\n According to Vertical Aerospace, the future air taxis could shuttle passengers from Battersea to Heathrow Airport in just eight minutes, a stark contrast to the current road journey of 52 minutes or the rail trip lasting 1 hour and 5 minutes.<\/p>\n Interestingly, the novel air vehicles have piqued the interest of Brazilian and Turkish airlines for potential use at congested hubs such as Sao Paulo and Istanbul.<\/p>\n The triumph of the test flight follows Aviation Minister Mike Kane’s assertion that commercial drones and flying taxis might be up and running in the UK by 2028.<\/p>\n In April, the government disclosed a \u00a320 million investment to advance a programme aimed at actualising these electric aircraft services.<\/p>\n “Achieving piloted wingborne flight in open airspace under the oversight of the UK CAA is an important moment,” remarked Stuart Simpson, CEO of Vertical Aerospace.<\/p>\n “Operating under the UK’s rigorous regulatory framework means we share the burden of safety with our regulator – every step must be approved.”<\/p>\n Click here to join our WhatsApp group<\/a>Privacy Notice<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The electric aircraft, capable of carrying four passengers plus the pilot, took off and landed vertically before making…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":142338,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8818],"tags":[381,748,393,4884,378,9731,183,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-142337","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bristol","8":"tag-bristol","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-in-the-news","13":"tag-traffic-travel","14":"tag-travel","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114593114631511440","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142337\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/1748552054_606_0_The-first-British-flying-taxi-has-taken-to-the-skies-over-the-Cotswolds.jpg\")
Flying taxis could be operational in the UK as soon as 2028.(Image: verticalaerospace\/ Instagram)<\/p>\n